Cutie Pie Birthday Card

For my friends that just bought the December Stamp of the Month, Cutie Pie, I wanted to post another card. Today is the last day it's available and it has so many more possibilities than I'm sharing.



This card is for my granddaughter whose birthday is this weekend. I used the CTMH Heartstrings paper pack again.

I included some puffy glittery hearts, a pearl on top of the stamped cupcake, and a strip of white shimmer trim tape on the left side. I colored the cupcake with alcohol ink markers and embossed the pink panel with a hearts embossing folder (not CTMH).

Thank you for visiting! Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Card Mania Challenge #63 - anything goes
Creative Card Crew #77 - anything goes
Fairytale Stampers #49 - everything goes
PDE Linky Party - Celebrations
Shopping Our Stash #182 - three patterned papers
The Crazy Challenge #187 - anything goes
Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Cutie Pie Anniversary Card

For my friends that just bought the December Stamp of the Month, Cutie Pie, I wanted to post a couple of cards. Today is the last day it's available and it has so many more possibilities than I'm sharing.



The first is for an anniversary card for a young couple and the next is for my granddaughter whose birthday is this weekend, on the next post. I used the CTMH Heartstrings paper pack for both.

This anniversary card uses three of the stickers that go with the Heartstrings paper (hearts and arrow). I bent the banner squares acrylic stamp, cutting slightly between each one along the bottom and colored them with alcohol ink markers. I stamped two hearts on the title banner and added a white enamel heart and some puffy glittery hearts. I also included a heart and a bow tie on the two heart stickers.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:


Card Mania Challenge #63 - anything goes
Creative Card Crew #77 - anything goes
Fairytale Stampers #49 - everything goes
Jellypark Friends Challenge - ribbons and bows
PDE Linky Party - Celebrations
The Crazy Challenge #187 - anything goes
Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Have A Very Merry Christmas

Good Tidings Angel Christmas Card

Last week's free verse at Word Art Wednesday (#162) is perfect to pair with this angel from the Cricut Cartridge, Inspired Heart.

I used the sketch from Mojo Monday #375.



A 5" x 7" snow embossing folder embossed the card front. I printed the verse on last year's CTMH "Frosted"winter paper. The other starry cardstock is from DCWV, "The First Noel."  I used CTMH Black Glitter cardstock behind the angel to hopefully represent the winter night sky.


Thank you for visiting! I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Come and Get It - Merry Christmas
Crafting By Designs - embossing
Crafts 4 Eternity #206 - Christmas
Crafty Creations #278 - diecuts
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #207 - anything urgently needed
Deep Ocean #93 - Christmas is all around
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #241 - anything with Cricut cut
Jingle Belles - anything goes
Pile It On #49 - anything goes Christmas
Word Art Wednesday #163 -anything uplifting

Here's another version with the Cricut Inspired Heart angel image on a circle card for one of my grandkids.

 

White and Silver Snowy Glad Tidings Card

I was inspired to make a white on white Christmas card.  I wanted to use Word Art Wednesday's great verse from last week for my Christmas cards this year. Because of the great news that the soon-to-be-born baby would be called Jesus for He would "save His people from their sins," I paired it with the CTMH stamp sentiment, Mary and Babe, about this being Glad Tidings of Great Joy!

I apologize for the poor lighting these dark wintery days that made my black print look brown:

I embossed the white panel on front with a Cuttlebug snow folder. I put a strip of white glitter trim on the bottom of the panel. I used the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the snowflake tag. I stamped and embossed the bottom front with my Glad Tidings sentiment and small snowflake in the middle of the cutout using Versamark and Ranger Super Fine Silver Embossing Powder.  The top of the tag has satin ribbon and a row of white opal Liquid Pearls.

This was a fun, easy Christmas card to make in multiples. Thank you for visiting. May you be blessed as you craft your own for family and friends.

Crafting by Designs - Silver and white
Delicious Doodles Challenge #114 - winter whites
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #241 - anything goes with Cricut cut
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #129 - snowflakes and ribbon
Little Red Wagon #267 - So Flaky - snowflakes
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #108 - tags with ribbon or trim
Stampavie and More Challenge #226 - snowflakes
Take Heart Ideas Challenge #6 - anything goes with CTMH product
Try It On Tuesday - winter whites
Word Art Wednesday #162 - anything uplifting

December Christmas Card Workshop

Here are part of the cards we are making on Saturday, December 6, 2014. This post is to help the crafty ladies coming that may need to complete a card or two. Each lady will receive half a package of Yuletide Carol paper pack and half a package of Snowhaven, gold sequins, silver and gold glitter paper, card bases, and twine/ribbon/trim. All of the pieces are pre-cut and individually packaged. Here are a few using the Yuletide paper images with additional stamping:

Two of the Yuletide Carol cards are swing cards cut using the Cricut Artfully Sent cartridge.  Here is one I previously posted:

Here are cards previously posted that use the Snowhaven papers and an older snowflake paper:

I will post more individual information on the Yuletide Carol cards later! If you're not coming to our workshop, perhaps these can be inspiration for some of your own!

November Stamp of the Month Cards

 

I celebrated a blessed Thanksgiving with family on both sides this week. I also took a break from making multiples of Christmas cards to post a few needed cards. Here are three I  made with the November Stamp of the Month, "It's the Little Things."It has a variety of flower and leaf shapes that can be combined in many ways.

I hope mine will inspire you to try a variety of colors on the flowers. They can go with nearly any patterned paper. I used the Pathfinding paper and its colors to make these. The first one uses a sentiment from a retired stamp set, but it's one I always need.

 I made this last one using one of the previous Mojo Monday sketches, #369.

I'm sharing these with the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create - #100!! - anything goes (option of calendar)
Amusing Challenge- anything goes (no digis)
Eclectic Ellapu - Purple team - leaves and folliage
Just Us Girls #269 - anything goes
Robyn's Fetish Challenge #240 - anythig goes
Word Art Wednesday #160 - anything uplifting

Give Thanks Card Set

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. When I was a girl my thoughts focused on the Pilgrims, their hardships, and the feast they had their second year in America thanks to the help of Native Americans teaching them how to raise American foods. They had much to be thankful for that year. More recently I learned that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed our national celebration of Thanksgiving in the midst of the Civil War, when few might have little to help them feel thankful. Both historic events point us to the idea that we should be thankful in the midst of plenty and in times of trouble. Scripture also directs us to be thankful to the Lord for His lovingkindness no matter what our circumstances are.


Here's a set of cards I made to give to friends and family.

The first card I made uses a new CTMH background stamp, Season of Thanks. I embossed the olive background, inked the stamp with Versamark clear ink, and used green and brown chalk to make the design pop.

The next two cards used CTMH designer paper from Pathfinding instead of the background stamp.  All three cards have embossed background that I sponged with coordinating ink. The verse I used is an older one from Verve. 

Thank you for visiting. May you take time to reflect on the many blessings God has given you, even during hardships or trials. May this week be a time for reflections and expressions of gratitude that will continue all year!

I'm sharing this card project with the following challenges:

Chalk-ah-Lot Cafe #70 - Thanks/Thankful/Thanksgiving with chalk



Frosted Designs Friday Challenge - Thanks with twist -ribbon/trim, twine, washi tape
Fun-day Friday Challenge #67 -from Jo's Scrap shack - Happy Thanksgiving
Great Impressions November Challenge - Thankful Thoughts



Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenge #37 - Thanks/Thank You
Open-Minded Crafting Fun Challege #24 - Grateful
Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #45 - Gratitude/Thanksgiving
Sentimental Sundays Challenge #234 - Heartfelt Thanks
Sweet Pea Stampers - Thanksgiving
Word Art Wednesday #159 - anything goes with uplifting message

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

I recently sold more than 50 of my handmade Christmas cards and now need to replace more than that for myself. I found a really quick procedure to make them using some of my older My Mind's Eye card bases and the newer CTMH "Pear & Partridge" Picture My Life cards. The first set of PML cards I bought came with page protectors that have a variety of 4" x 6" and 3" x 4" arrays to be filled with the cards and photos. Now they've come out with sets you can buy without the page protectors, so I'm on my second set.

These are so fast, I'm totally sold on them! There are three of each 3" x 4" card in each set, meaning I can easily make two more cards after designing one.  I only added a contrasting mat, a small amount of coordinating Christmas paper and a simple embellishment or two. Here are a few samples:

I cut along the top edge of the sleigh so I could insert a "gift" with this message from a Verve stamp: "Christ the Savior is Born."

(The sentiment on the last card was stamped using a long-retired stamp from a long-retired company.)

My favorite Christmas style is traditional, with traditional colors like red and green, so the PML cards help with this style.
Thank you for visiting! Let us be thankful for this blessed holiday celebrating the birth of Christ the Savior.
I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
As You Like It- favorite Christmas style (traditional/modern) & why
Aud Sentiments Challenge #120 - use a sentiment for any Dec. holiday
Christmas Stampin' All Year #38 - Anything goes (plus comments)
Crafting by Designs - Get Ready for Christmas
Scrapper's Delights Challenge #36 - anything goes/traditional Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Let's get sentimental

Scripture and Lyrics Lesson #19

After no internet connection for most of last week, three days focused on our local craft fair, and a great workshop with a dozen ladies in my cardmaking/scrapbook club, I was ready for some physical and spiritual R and R (rest and recovery)! I added a layout to My Crush album using Patter's most recent scripture lesson revolving around the lyrics from "Something in the Water" by Carrie Underwood. What I really enjoy about focusing on the lyrics and scripture while I create is that I mull over the ideas longer and make new "connections" with the ideas in Patter's lesson and the ones I'm including.

I had never heard the song, so I enjoyed listening to the lyrics. I chose to print the entire song again, this time on a card base that will open. Since all of the pages in My Crush album have differently decorated pages, I chose to use the butterfly themed set of pages to reflect the lyrics revolved around change and stronger. It's across the page from my favorite anniversary photo (inside a flip-flap) taken at a butterfly festival. I labeled the photo using one of the new Skylark Picture My Life cards and some washi tape.

I stamped quotes and scriptures about GRACE from Our Daily Bread Designs and Verve.

  I hand-lettered the word CHANGED and surrounded it with a retired white enamel shape. I stamped the word STRONGER using flaxen ink using the Keyboard Uppercase alphabet.

I especially love 2 Corinthians 12:9:
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
I know that my life has plenty of weaknesses and faults so I'm always thankful that I don't have to be perfect to come to Christ, but that His strength shows despite my weaknesses. Last week I was designing, cutting and packaging 48 two page layouts and 30 cards for my workshop. I always need the entire week with few interruptions and still have to stay up until 1:00 a.m. the night before the workshop. Somehow, Monday through Thursday I had major interruptions digging up bulbs, helping with removal of shrubs, trees, pergola, and patio in order to have three sides of our basement dug up for repair. I just kept praying that God would help me get everything finished, saying I can't do it, but You can, Lord. Amazingly, I finished around supper time on Friday instead of the usual late bedtime. I even woke before the alarm that morning, set up 30 minutes earlier than ever, and didn't get exhausted from all of the activity that day. Wow! That was definitely a God thing! I was SO thankful that His strength helped me despite my weakness and having less time. Oh, and we were supposed to have several inches of snow but only had a few hard-to-see flurries that didn't accumulate! His grace really IS SUFFICIENT!

I stamped the ODBD Butterfly Corner using Twilight ink and colored it with Prismacolor Pencils. I wanted it to be subtle so the verses would stand out more.
Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with the awareness of His strength in you when you feel weak or in need of His grace.
I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
Anything But a Card #41 - anything goes
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge #127 - Things with Wings
Not Just Cards #6 - anything goes
The Pink Elephant Challenge #277 - anything BUT a card
Triple The Scraps - SLLC14 - #19 Something In the Water
Use Your Stuff Challenge #162 - use stamps



Word Art Wednesday #158 - anything uplifting

Blessed Beyond Measure

Later this month we will celebrate Thanksgiving. Many of us will feast with relatives on turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, to mention only a few of the traditional foods. I used this pumpkin stamp for a Thanksgiving card. Personally, I think giving thanks should be a daily practice. If we think about this, most of us can acknowledge many daily blessings for which we should give thanks to one another and to God, even during difficult times. 


I hope that the sentiment on this CTMH pumpkin, Blessed beyond measure, is one you can identify with. I made two versions of it using a similar design and color palette. I used the rock and roll technique to add a darker color around the edges when I inked the stamp.

This first one is for the Color Dare, Orange plus neutrals and one accent color, olive. I used Goldrush and Autumn Terracotta.

The old hymn we used to sing in church, "Count Your Blessings," says so much about the benefit of being thankful and counting our blessings:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.


Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.


When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy]
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.


So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.


This week at Word Art Wednesday the beautiful free-to-download crafted verse is from 1 Thesalonians 5:18:  "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."


I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:


Blogger's Challenge - Give Thanks
Color My Heart Color Dare #117 - choose your orange (first card)
Eureka Stamps - Count Your Blessings
Fussy and Fancy #126 - Thankful
Path of Positivity - Gratitude
Wags n Whiskers #141 - Let's be thankful
Word Art Wednesday #157 - anything uplifting

Pink Christmas Deer for Peace on Earth

City Crafters today have a challenge to make a card with a deer. Most of my life I enjoyed looking at deer in a field or in the woods. I've taken my share of photos of deer. They've always seemed graceful and peaceful to me, (except when they've eaten my newly planted bushes or bulbs. We had to put up a six foot fence around my vegetable garden so that they'd stop eating lettuce, strawberry plants, blackberry bushes, etc.) Yet, I still wanted to make this peaceful, feminine Christmas card.

I have a set of PML cards for Christmas scrapbooking, but I'm falling in love with them for card making. My pack of cards accidently had one extra 4" x 6" pink card with a deer, so I embossed one with polka dots, added liquid pearls on the dots to represent snow, and cut out another deer to pop dot it over the deer on the embossed card. The soft look of the deer encouraged me to add soft lace, organdy ribbon, and a sentiment about peace on earth
Thank you for visiting! May God bless you with His peace!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

City Crafter Challenge #236 - use a deer on the project





Craft-Dee BowZ November challenge - anything goes with handmade bow
Craft Your Passion #238 - bright and sparkly
Creative Card Crew #74 - show Christmas Joy
Dream Valley - get ready for Christmas
Love to Create #140 - girly and lacy
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes with option of sparkle or glitter (my liquid pearls)
Through the Craft Room door - anything goes

Mojo 370 Yuletide Carol Christmas Card

I'm working on the Christmas card workshop for my scrapbook club next month. I love the papers in this year's CTMH Christmas paper pack, Yultide Carol.  One of the reversible papers has great images. Using these images will save my friends time - great images without stamping. Here's the first one I made using the fun sketch from Mojo Monday this week.

I wanted this card to be flat enough to mail so I used gold sequins instead of other thicker embellishments.The red poisettia was cut using a Spellbinder's die. the red floral strip at the top is one of the zip strips on top of the CTMH papers.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch that embosses while cutting. I stamped the sentiment on one of the papers with music using the CTMH B1468 Merriest Christmas stamp set.

 

Tank you for visiting! May God fill your heart with joy as you create your own Christmas cards to share with loved ones!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Something Creative #86 jff - green and red

Bearly Mine - Christmas Cards

 Crafty Calendar November - It's All About Christmas

Die Cut Divas - Holiday with die cut

Jingle Belles - Christmas card with a creature

 Mojo Monday #370 sketch

Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Christmas Card

We've had the most beautiful Indian summer here in Missouri. Most of our days have been unseasonably warm and sunny, but a chill is in the air now as we get ready for November. I'm never ready to let go of the warmth and beauty of early fall, but "to everything there is a season." The way it looks right now in my craft area, with lots of Christmas cards and tags, you'd think I'm ready to jump into December. I've tried to start using up some of my collected Christmas paper, but no matter how many cards I make, there's still more paper. 

Here are two I made using CTMH "Wonderland" papers from a couple of years ago. The first one brings back fond memories of leading the music in our Christmas program at Blue Ridge Christian School in 1975. I can't sing this song without remembering those dear children singing it with me. What a blessing it was to teach in that school.

I love the angel image! It's now my favorite! I embossed the sentiment with silver, cut a snowflake using Cricut Art Philosophy, p. 22, and added bitty sparkles on the tips and a silver glitter brad in the center. A tiny bit of scallop punched silver glitter cardstock on the edge made the silver trio complete. (The angel and sentiment come from one of the CTMH Hostess Rewards stamps. You can see it in the Idea Book on my website. Instead of costing $13.95 it's only $8.00 for a hostess with $150 in sales. if you're interested, you can email me.)

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Snowflakes
The Crafter's Café #88 - Things with wings
Crafty Creations #275 - Brads, buttons or bows ( my large silver brad)
Fab 'n' Funky #235 - Christmas
My Perfect Life Festive 48 - Wk. 42 - Christmas
Word Art Wednesday #156 - anything...uplifting

Here's my second card using the Wonderland paper pack and a retired stamp set of the Nativity of Christ.

May we all work to make Peace on Earth a reality. I really want to share the real meaning of Christmas with family and friends as I send them Christmas cards this year. I also hope that they don't keep the Christ of Christmas in a manger, but that they'll accept Him as the sinless Son of God our Creator, who came to die on the cross for our sins that we might make Him the Lord of our lives and accept His gift of salvation from the punishment for our sins and receive eternal life with Him. As the song says, "Glory to the "Newborn" King! Peace on Earth and Mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled!"

ODBD Shining the Light Challenge 215- Great Is Thy Faithfulness

I was looking at stamp sets from Our Daily Bread Designs. Once I looked at this stamp from Scripture Collection 1, I've been singing one of my favorite hymns, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." If you're not familiar with it you can see the lyrics and listen to this timeless hymn on youtube. Just as the hymn says "there is no shadow of turning with thee...Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. . . Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. . ."  It is reassuring to know that as we see changes in our lives, God's love and watch-care never change.  He is always watching over us, showing His mercy and love for every new situation or problem. I'm sure this great hymn came from the verse I used. The version says, "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's Great Love we are not consumed. For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness!" Lamentations 3:21-23


I often find hymns or scriptures that keep playing over and over in my mind as I go through my day. I truly believe that's one of the ways God's spirit speaks to my spirit and mind to focus on something in that verse. They also always encourage me, so I made this card of encouragement for someone else using this verse.

I used a glossy green pattern card base with a strip of glossy Lagoon CTMH Paper Fundamental and Black Glitter cardstock. Here is a close-up of the Lagoon cardstock which shows the glossy pattern.

 

The other side of the glossy cardstock has the same design in Lagoon and White, NOT embossed or glossy:

The two flowers are from retired CTMH ribbon. Also, I love making bows out of the woven edged organdy ribbon. I stamped the top and bottom edges of the Spellbinders Label 9 using a leafy branch from this CTMH "Lifetime of Happiness" stamp set:

 Thank you for visiting my card of encouragement using this lovely scripture stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs. My computer wouldn't let me give you a link to the store or specific stamp set, but you can find the link on the right side of their blog. In a world that's always changing, may God bless you and help you rely on Him in changing times.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Anything Goes with a Twist #3 - twist- shimmer and shine

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - October-anything with patterned paper

Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #215 - use any ODBD stamp set

Really Reasonable Ribbon #105 - anything goes with ribbon

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything

Word Art Wednesday #154 - anything goes with ODBD stamp

Mojo Monday #367 Snowhaven Christmas Joy

Whenever I ask my adult children if they heard about this or that on the news, they usually reply, "No, Mom. The news is too depressing." Somehow I remain a news-a-holic, wanting to stay informed. I prefer to know what is happening and to pray for the countries, leaders, situations, victims, and injured.
In a world riddled with trouble, I also find it uplifting to focus on sharing something positive with family and friends. I decided that this week I'm focusing on the joys of Christmas, making cards and layouts. The moment I saw the sketch on Mojo Monday this week, I envisioned using the Snowhaven papers and a new stamp, Merriest Christmas. 

I wanted this card to look fairly basic and "clean." I also wanted it to be 6 1/2" x 5" black card base so I cut the Cranberry background mat 6 1/4" x 4 3/4" and each strip 4" x 1 1/8" and punched two black dotted circles with my 1 1/8" circle punch and cut them in half.  The white strip was 2" x 4 1/2." The really fun part was stamping the sentiment in two colors using my favorite masking technique. I used scotch tape to cover "Joy" while I inked "Christmas" with black. I pulled off the tape and stamped, cleaning the ink off afterwards. Then I taped the word "Christmas" while I inked "joy" with Cranberry ink, pulled off the tape and stamped. The aqua dotted ribbon and the poinsettia are retired CTMH embellishments from a few years ago. I've been sorting and organizing forgotten supplies and I definitely need to use them up!

Thank you for visiting. May God give bless you with peace and joy when life seems troubled. May He bless you as you share your creations with family and friends.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge Extra - anything goes Christmas
My Perfect Life  - anything goes that's Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - #67 - anything goes Christmas
Mojo Monday #367- sketch
The Crafty Blogger's Network - Christmas
Completely Christmas #33 - anything goes with option-poinsettias